Københavns mosaiske menighed hjemme. Fra Billed Bladet 1945

Resumé

Copenhagen Mosaic Congregation in Læderstræde 5

In June 1945 a photo reporter from the Danish illustrated magazine Billed Bladet visited the synagogue in Læderstræde 5 in the old city centre of Copenhagen.

The Læderstræde Synagogue was founded by Moses Koch Levy (See Rambam 18/2009) in 1845 and was used until 1955, with the exception of the period between October 1943 and May 1945, when most of the Danish Jews were in exile in Sweden. These unique photographs, most of which were published in 1945, are now published with the kind permission of the Scanpix photographic bureau. They show interesting scenes from a service in the little family synagogue on the second floor of an 18th century townhouse in Copenhagen. The Minjan had returned from their exile in Sweden, and members of the great Synagogue of Copenhagen in Krystalgade were attending the Shul until the Krystalgade Synagogue reopened in June 1945. The great Synagogue had been vandalized by the Nazis during the German occupation of Denmark.

Three of the congregants seen on the photographs, which reporter A.E. Andersen took in 1945, are still with us. Bjørn Bamberger of Long Island and Helene Meyer of Copenhagen, who are both descendants of Moses Levy, the founder of the synagogue, tell us about this extraordinary service in 1945, and parts of the article in the Billed Bladet is also cited.